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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. clip — a video
  7. court — of law
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bat — the animal
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. court — for sport
  14. pass — a permit
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. clip — to cut
  17. wake — a trail
  18. prune — to trim
  19. ball — a great time
  20. clip — for paper
  21. court — of a king
  22. ball — a dance
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. ball — a round shape

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com